One Eye
by Kitsune Eric
Summary: (AU) Ken Kaneki was born as a natural half ghoul. At a very young age, he was orphaned and faced to survive on the streets. Then one day...he met a green haired girl with one ghoul eye...just like him. (EtoKen, with slight Touken) (Contains gore, nudity, and lemons) (Contains spoilers for the anime and manga)
1. Chapter 1

Blood-thirsty, savage, predatory, vicious...

 _Hungry_

These are all synonyms to humans when asked about ghouls. Some believe that they were originally once cannibalistic humans that adapted to the taste of flesh, like a form of natural selection. Whatever their origins, there's no question about one fact.

Ghouls are higher up on the food chain.

However, there are beings even stronger than ghouls.

Cross breeding between a ghoul and a human usually yields stillborns and deformed fetuses about 98% of the time. Yet, in that 2%, a miracle happens.

A half ghoul is born.

At peak performance, they are more resilient, stronger, and faster than full blooded ghouls.

This is the story of two such half ghouls, Eto Yoshimura and Ken Kaneki.

And how together, they change the world as we know it.

xxx

Ken Kaneki was born from a ghoul father and a human mother. Three years after Kaneki was born, the CCG caught wind of Kaneki's father's whereabouts, and raided the apartment that they lived in at the 20th ward. Kaneki's father was a A ranked ghoul classified as "Fox" for his nine fox tail-esque rinkaku. Both of his parents were killed in the raid, leaving the now orphaned Kaneki to fend for himself in the streets of the 20th Ward. He is now seven years old.

xxx

Eto Yoshimura was the daughter of Kuzen Yoshimura of the Organization, V. Left alone as an infant by her father, Eto grew up on the streets, feeding on human and ghoul alike. The green haired half ghoul child grew infamous among the ghoul population once she moved on from scavenging to hunting in the 24th Ward. Eto extended her hunting range to the 20th Ward, sneaking out from her caretaker's eye back in the 24th Ward. She is now nine years old.

xxx

Ken Kaneki, having lived on the streets for about four years now, has gain a limited amount of knowledge of living life in the backstreets of the 20th Ward. Human, ghoul, it didn't really matter to him.

Food was food after all.

Ken was busy scavenging on a ghoul corpse in a shadowy back alley, tearing limbs from it's sockets and eating the bitter meat, when he heard an animalistic growl from behind, alerting him from his meal. He silently scanned his surroundings when he saw girl, around his age, with matted green hair crawling out from the shadows towards him on all fours. She was a ghoul, but had only one kakugan in her right eye and had an olive green eye in her other eye, in contrast to Kaneki's left kakugan and his right smoky gray right eye.

She was like him.

But before he could continue staring any further, the girl lunged at him, nearly taking off his arm. Kaneki retaliated, a tiny sapphire blue and jet black rinkaku poking out of his back from the excitement of battle.

Kaneki's kagune was thin and long, like a spider leg as it aimed at the green haired girl, who didn't bother pulling out her kagune.

The two half ghoul children exchanged no word to each other. Though they were young children, they knew that the other was a threat to their life. Kaneki retaliated, slashing at the girl with his kagune. Eto darted to the side, avoiding the blue limb and closed in on Kaneki, sinking her teeth into his arm, literally tearing it off.

Kaneki howled in pain, sinking his teeth into her neck and tore off a chunk of her flesh, causing the girl to cry out in pain as well.

Both devoured their claimed flesh and regenerated their lost parts.

""You taste really good"" They both declared in unison to the other.

Both then blinked, not expecting the other to say the same exact thing.

Before either could continue their assault on the other, both turned their head to see two white cloaked humans carrying briefcases rounding the corner. This alerted both hybrids, temporaily calling a truce before bolting out of the alley, away from the Doves.

Both of the ghoul children sat down on the rooftops of the 20th ward, looking over the setting sun.

"That was pretty close." The black haired boy sighed, his kagune sinking into his back as he calmed down.

"Yeah, it was." Eto responded with a sigh as she sat next to Kaneki and watched the sun sink down together.

Before Kaneki knew it, the green haired girl had tackled him to the ground and straddled him, staring deep into his mismatched eyes with her own.

"I wanna taste you again~" Eto said in a sing-song voice while pinning his arms to his sides.

"No way! That hurts when you bite me!" Kaneki protested, pulling out his kagune and the deep blue tendril wrapped around the girl and throwing her off him.

And thus the two lunged at each other, continuing their fight from before, taking off chunks off of the other with bites and kagune attacks.

xxx

Their skirmish lasted a little over an hour, both collapsed onto the rooftops, bloody and exhausted.

"Truce?" Kaneki called out to his opponent laying down not too far away from him.

"Truce." The girl replied while panting, recovering from her wounds.

Night fell on the two children, shrouding them in darkness.

"I'm Kaneki, what's your name?" The boy asked his new green haired companion.

"I'm Eto." She returned with a weak grin. "You're pretty good even though you're just a kid." Eto stuck her tongue out at the black haired boy.

"Hey! I'm not that younger than you!" He retorted, trying to get up, but stopped due not being fully healed.

"Hey Kaneki, wanna go hunting together?" She grinned at him, already warming up to the younger boy.

"Sure. That fight of ours made me even hungrier than before." The boy complained.

And with that, the boy and the girl became fast friends.


	2. Chapter 2

"First thing's first. We need to find a way to hide our faces before we go hunting." Eto declared once the pair was fully recovered and back on their feet.

"You mean like masks?" Kaneki asked, blinking. He's seen other ghouls wear masks to hide their faces from the CCG's Doves.

"Yeah, and we also need to change clothes, since both of ours are kinda...gone." Eto added as she looked at the tattered state their clothes were in as a result of their fight. Kaneki's shirt was torn up, to the point where he barely had one. His shorts were just as bad as his shirt.

Eto wasn't any better, her dark red dress torn down her mid-line just past her belly button and flapped in the wind, causing Kaneki to turn beet red and turn away from the girl.

Said girl just busted out laughing at the meek boy. She noted that he was a pretty vicious fighter, yet outside of battle, he was pretty shy and adorable.

"C'mon, I think there was a mask on that ghoul we were fighting over back there." Eto said while taking the boy's hand and jumping off the roof back into the alley that they met in.

xxx

Just as Eto said, Kaneki found a mask on the dead ghoul that he was eating. It was a black leather half mask that wrapped around the face with a strap of leather crossing between the eyes. Strangely enough, there was an eye patch that could cover Kaneki's right eye and display his kakugan while hiding the fact he was a one eyed ghoul. On the "mouth" of the mask was a grotesque grin with a zipper that could be opened.

"Oo~ pretty spooky. but there's one thing i don't like about it..." Eto said as she looked a the mask...and promptly tears out the eye-patch to Kaneki's horror.

"If you tear out the eye patch, everyone's gonna know that i'm a one eyed ghoul!" Kaneki cried out in protest. The green haired girl chuckled and shook her head.

"We don't wanna hide the fact that we're special, Kaneki. We're both half ghouls, and we should be proud of it!" Eto said while handing the "modified" mask back to Kaneki, who sighed and put the mask on.

"How does it look, Eto?" Kaneki asked his partner as he zipped open the mouthpiece.

"Yeah, that definitely suites you," Eto giggled at her masked companion.

"What about you?" Kaneki asked the girl by his side.

"I'm sure we'll figure something out" The green haired girl said while thinking. She then grabs Kaneki's hand and runs to a department store nearby that was closed down for the day.

xxx

"I'm pretty sure we can find something here, as well as some clothes too." She giggled at the small squeak Kaneki made, having been reminded at their current clothing predicament.

About 30 minutes in, Eto finally said screw it and grabbed several rolls of gauze wrap from the first aid kit under the front desk and ran over to Kaneki, who found new clothes for the two.

"Couldn't find a mask, so we'll settle for the next best thing" She said, holding up the rolls of bandages to him.

"You're gonna wrap yourself up in bandages?" Kaneki blinked at the unorthodox suggestion Eto gave him.

"Yup! Which means, you're gonna have to help wrap me up" She told him cheerfully as she unshamefully began to strip off her tattered dress and was soon as naked as the day she was born, much to the young Kaneki's distress.

"E-E-Eto?! Why are you taking off your clothes?!" Kaneki shouted at her in his flustered state.

"Just shut it and wrap me up, you big baby." Eto stuck out her tongue at him playfully and tossed him one of the rolls of bandages.

Kaneki fumbled with the roll of bandages and wisely started with her private parts first. After her decency was covered, Kaneki began to relax a bit and proceeded in wrapping up her whole body from toe to neck.

"Cover my face too. Or else this would defeat the purpose of a mask." Eto told Kaneki who nodded and wrapped up her face too, making sure there was room for her to breathe too.

"There, perfect!. Now that wasn't so bad, now was it?" She giggled at Kaneki as she inspected his handy work. "Hey, you did a pretty good job actually." Eto gave Kaneki a thumbs up in approval as the got dressed in their new clothes. Kaneki, a plain black shirt with long khaki pants. While Eto put on a crimson red hoodie and black dress over her bandaged body.

"Now" She began, stretching with a sigh as she pulled the hood of her sweater over her head with a grin. "let's raise hell, partner." She took his hand and they walked out into the night together, hand in hand.

xxx

And raise hell they did.

The two were like pack animals, double teaming their prey with deceit and blind siding tactics taught to Kaneki by Eto.

The young ghoul never realized how efficient it was to hunt with another. With the two little predators working together, they took down prey larger than themselves, both ghouls and humans alike.

As Kaneki and Eto devoured their latest meal, both children jerked their heads up, a new scent alerting them.

Eto relaxed, seemingly recognizing the scent. "Noroi's here!" She exclaimed, looking up to see a tall figure wearing a blank white mask with only a creepy wide smile present.

Kaneki blinked at the tall figure as he loomed over the children. Eto ran behind Kaneki and latched onto his back in protest. "No, Noro! I don't wanna leave. I'm having fun with my new friend." She stuck her tongue out at the man and hid her face into the back of the boy's shirt.

Noroi didn't say anything as a massive crimson bikaku with a row of sharp teeth grew out from behind him and stretched out and simply swallowed up Eto from behind Kaneki effortlessly.

With Eto in his possession, Noroi politely bowed to Kaneki and lept up to the rooftops and vanished into the darkness, leaving Kaneki by himself.

xxx

Kaneki, now alone, wondered the streets of the 20th ward at a lethargic pace.

He missed Eto already.

Not too far up ahead, the young one eyed ghoul could smell something...strange. It was pleasant, yet it didn't smell like meat at all. It was aromatic with an earthy scent.

Drawn to the exotic smell, Kaneki rushed up ahead to the source of the scent, a small building with the name "Anteiku".

xxx

Inside the coffee shop of Anteiku, Kuzen Yoshimura and the two staff members were about to finish closing shop, when a black haired ghoul child entered the building. He was young, around seven years old wearing a black half facial mask with a hideous grin. The most peculiar feature of the boy was that he had only one human eye and one kakugan.

He was a One Eyed Ghoul.


	3. Chapter 3

**==Twelve Years Later==**

"Hey, Kaneki, could you take care of this customer while I take the order to Kaya?" The purple haired teenage girl, Touka Kirishima, asked the black haired boy as he set a used plate on the counter.

"Yeah, sure no problem." Kaneki said to her and walked to said customer.

It's been twelve years since he first entered Anteiku. Yoshimura took Kaneki under his wing and raised him into who he is today. He was taught how to function in human society and blend in among them. He even made a human friend, Hideyoshi Nagachika. Until five years ago, he also met up with his childhood friend, Eto, who continued to sneak out from the 24th Ward to meet with him. Then suddenly, she vanished five years ago, and Kaneki hasn't seen her since.

The one eyed ghoul also wore an eyepatch over his lone kakugan in public. Though, Kaneki was able to control his hunger and predatory instincts now, after years of practice and discipline training from Yomo, the manager felt it to be a necessary precaution.

Ken Kaneki went from an orphaned hybrid that scavenged on humans and ghouls alike, to a meek, nineteen year old bookworm with a passionate love for the works of Sen Takatsuki. She was his favorite author hands down.

Kaneki couldn't wait for his shift to end.

Today, said Sen Takatsuki was holding a book signing at the bookstore he always visited. He planned on going straight there after his shift. He asked Touka if she wanted to tag along, but the abrasive teenager promply declined, telling him that "horror stories weren't her thing".

xxx

Kaneki made his way to the customer, a woman in her late teens with long violet purple hair and reading glasses. She had her nose stuck in a book, one Kaneki recognized very well.

"Oh, is that " _The Dropped Box"_ you're reading?" Kaneki asked the woman out of curiosity. It was one of Sen's earlier works.

The woman poked her head out from the book to look at the sudden voice and smirks to herself. "Why indeed it is. This is my favorite of her collection actually." She put her book down to face the boy fully. "You're a fan of Sen Takatsuki as well?" She asked curiously.

"Yeah, I am. I've been a fan since her debut four years ago. Did you know that she's doing a book signing today at the bookstore to promote her new novel " _The Black Goat's Egg_?" Kaneki asked the girl as he slowly grew more excited at talking to someone about his beloved author.

His friend Hide was never a fan of Sen's works, so he rarely was able to express his love for his favorite writer.

"No, I did not know that. Seems I should check it out later." The girl chuckled at Kaneki's growing excitement. "I'm Rize, by the way. Rize Kamishiro." The purple haired girl introduced herself to Kaneki.

"I'm Ken Kaneki. Nice to meet you, Rize." Kaneki smiled at the girl, sheepishly scratching his cheek.

"Kaneki, stop flirting with the customer and take her damn order!" Touka shouted at the boy from across the cafe, causing him to flinch and cringe.

Rize giggled at the boy's discomfort. "I'll just have a cup of coffee." She said, finally giving her order.

Kaneki sighed and wrote down Rize's order and returned to the scowling Touka.

xxx

After his shift, Kaneki ran to his room upstairs of the coffee shop to undress out of his work clothes and into more casual clothes. The half ghoul seemed to have an affinity with the black shirt/khakhi pants combo that he adopted since his first meeting with his childhood friend.

"I'm heading out!" Kaneki called to his fellow collegues just as he exited Anteiku.

"What's got him in a hurry?" Enji asked as he, Kaya, and Touka watched the eye patched boy run out the shop.

"Turns out that author he loves so much is holding a signing in the bookstore near here." Touka said to the man behind the counter washing cups.

"So that's what's got him riled up all week. Explains why he's been unusally energetic." Enji laughed as they watched the boy run off around the corner through the window.

xxx

The line for Sen's book signing stretched all the way outside the store itself, much to Kaneki's dismay.

He clutched his favorite book of Sen Takatsuki, a copy of _"Dear Kafka",_ against his chest as he anxiously waited in line. His copy was one of the orginal 50,000 that sold during Sen Takatsuki's debut. It was a considered to be a collector's item, being a first edition and all.

Luckily for Kaneki, the line moved fairly quickly and before he knew it, he was inside the store.

Sen Takatsuki rarely ever showed her face in public, preferring to remain in her own home while she worked on her stories. This was one of the rare occasions where she held a public apperence.

"Did you see what Sen looked like?" One of the members of the line that got their book signed asked their companion as they passed Kaneki.

"Yeah, she's totally cute. Who knew she'd look that hot?" The other laughed as left the bookstore.

Cute? Hot?

Now Kaneki was starting to get nervous about meeting his idol as thoughts began to plague his mind.

He doesn't look too funny with this eye patch does he?

Finally, _finally,_ he is the next person in line.

There she was. Long messy green hair, sleepy expression, olive green eyes. Sen Takatsuki was short for a woman her age, twenty-one, and dressed in a long blue dress over a cream yellow turtleneck.

They were right, she was quite attractive.

Taking a deep breath, he walked over to the booth where Sen waited, looking a bit...bored.

Upon meeting each other's eyes, sudden flashes of recognition spark in Kaneki and the author.

It...it couldn't be...

'Eto?!' Kaneki mouthed at Sen in shock and disbelief, who looked just as starstruck to be reunited with her childhood friend.

"Sen" pressed her finger against her lip, telling Kaneki to not say anything about her identity. He nodded in understanding.

And so the two silently agreed to act like complete strangers, knowing that they were going to meet up after this signing was over.

"A first edition of my first book, huh? A pretty rare find. You must be quite the long time fan, Mr...?"

"Kaneki, Ken Kaneki." The boy answered nervously her as she signed the book. "I've been a fan since you started as a writer four years ago. _"Dear Kafka_ " is hands down my favorite book." Kaneki gushed, though it felt weird, since it was his childhood friend that his was gushing over.

Eto shot Kaneki a sly smirk, breaking her sleepy expression for a split second, before returning to her original facade. "You flatter me, Mr. Kaneki. Knowing that I have such a devoted fan puts my mind at ease. If you like _"Dear Kafka",_ then I'm sure you're going to enjoy this new book." She said as she signed Kaneki's book.

Then she leaned over to his ear in a blindingly fast motion. "Meet me at that coffee shop you work at. This shouldn't take too long to finish up. I look forward to catching up with you, Ken-Ken." The author whispered in his ear with a wink before returning to her usual position. The movement was so fast that the humans in line never saw her lean over to Kaneki or hear what she said to him.

Kaneki shot her a smile as Eto winked at him, gathering his now signed book and grabbing Sen' new book and buying it. Eto waved at Kaneki lazily as he left the store.

Wait...how did she know he worked at Anteiku?

xxx

The eye patched half ghoul returned to Anteiku and sighed. It was an eventful day, which was about to be even more eventful once Eto meets up with him later.

Meeting Rize

Meeting Sen Takatsuki.

Reuniting with Eto.

It felt like today was a catalyst for things to come. Of what, Kaneki could not put his finger on.

"How was your little book signing?" Touka's voice shook him out of this thoughts and he jerked his head towards the teen.

"Oh, it was pretty exciting. I bumped into my childhood friend over there and we agreed to hang out here." The black haired boy told her as he took a seat at one of the tables. "She's actually meeting me here shortly."

"She? Don't tell me you had enough nerve to befriend a girl in the past. I remember when you could barely say a word to me." Touka laughed while placing cups in the cupboard.

"I think you're remembering it wrong, Touka. I helped you and Ayato find this place after all those years ago. Besides, you shouldn't feel so surprised. You're my friend too after all." Kaneki laughed at Touka's jabbing.

Before the purple haired girl could retort, the bell at the door chimed as a woman in her early 20s with long unkempt green hair walked in. Upon seeing Kaneki, her eyes lit up and she ran to him in a tackling hug.

"Ken-Ken, it's been so long!" She was short for someone her age, almost child like in stature.

The woman practically leapt onto the eye patched half ghoul, causing him to fall out of his chair.

"Ow, hey Eto, long time no see." Kaneki huffed and pulled her off of him so he could get up.

Eto looked at Touka, who stared at the two in disbelief, a sly grin forming on her lips. "Oh, who's this, Ken-Ken? Your girlfriend?" She teased, causing the purple haired girl to scowl at them and turn away with a huff.

"As if! Who'd even date this sorry loser?" She dismissed with a snort.

The green haired author's grin grew wider as she licked Kaneki's ear playfully, causing him to squeak in embarassment. "I would~" She chimed in a sing-song voice as both of them look at the eccentric woman in disbelief.

"Kidding!" She laughed at the flustered two teens. "You should look at your faces. Anyways, shoo. I wanna talk to Ken-Ken alone." She made a brushing motion at Touka, who sighed and walked upstairs to the residential floor where she and Kaneki lived.

With her gone, Eto's right olive eye turned into a single kakugan and she reached over to gently stroke the eyepatch over Kaneki's kakugan. "Now, can you tell me why you're hiding your gift, my dear Kaneki?" She asked in a sickeningly sweet voice.


	4. Chapter 4

"Mr. Yoshimura said it'd be better if I kept being a one eyed ghoul a secret." Kaneki replied, a bit unnerved by Eto's tone.

"Kaneki, what did we say about Father?" Eto continued in that same sweet tone as she peeled the eyepatch off of Kaneki's eye, revealing his kakugan.

Eto soothingly stroke Kenki's cheek as he sighed. It's been five years, but she still had an effect on him. He couldn't help but feel guilty about hiding his "gift", as she puts it.

"Yoshimura is soft and doesn't know what he's talking about?" Kaneki guessed as he rested his face against her hand affectionately.

"Exactly. He's only scared of what we're capable of. Father is rotting your mind with ridiculous notions of getting along with humans. We don't befriend food. When's the last time we've had a proper hunt together? That should help clear your head of this nonsense he's filling you with." She suggested with an angelic smile.

Kaneki sighed and pulled her hand away from his cheek, looking at her sternly. "No, Eto. I've made friends here in Anteiku. If I were to hunt here in the 20th Ward. then it'd be like betraying my family."

Eto scowled and moved away from Kaneki, tossing his eyepatch to him like it's a piece of trash. "Father has made you soft, Ken-Ken. I plan to fix that." She smiled again, moving to place a hand on his cheek again, but was stopped by Kaneki's own. Eto giggled and simply overpowered his strength effortlessly, successfully cupping his cheek in her hand, much to Kaneki's surprise. "I can make you strong, Kaneki. Right now, staying here will only waste your potential as a one eyed ghoul. Come with me, to Aogiri Tree, and you'll never be weak again." Eto kept her wide smile as she continued stroking Kaneki's cheek.

"I said no." He repeated sternly, causing Eto to sigh to herself in disappointment.

"I'm not giving up on you, Ken-Ken. We're partners after all, and there's nothing we can't achieve if we work together. One day, you will come to me and we will accomplish great things together. It might not be today, it might not be a month from now, but you will come to me." Eto giggled and lead over to the older teen, kissing him on the cheek and walking away.

"I'll be waiting...Ken." The green haired half ghoul flashed Kaneki a brilliant smile before walking out of the coffee shop.

Kaneki was left speechless at the behavior of his long time childhood friend. Sighing and regaining his composure, he put the eyepatch back on his eye and went upstairs to go to his room.

There was a lot to think about. Eto's return, the fact that she's really Sen Takatsuki, and her offer.

He wasn't going to accept. Naturally.

Even if it is Eto, he made a family here in Anteiki thanks to Kuzen Yoshimura. His daughter might hate her own father, but Kaneki respected Yoshimura and owed him a great debt for raising him to being the person he is today.

Kaneki was a pacifist now, like many of the ghouls here in Anteiku. He didn't enjoy fighting, and he was far from Yomo's level of skill.

Yet if he were to go with Eto to Aogiri Tree, he'd be turning his back on the family he's made and shatter the peace they had made during his 12 years here.

That was something he couldn't live with.

Eto promised strength, but at what price?

A price that was way too high.

Even for his dear friend.

xxx

Ken Kaneki couldn't sleep.

 _You should get something to eat..._

The reunion with his childhood friend left him swimming in his thoughts, so he resorted to a late night stroll to clear his head.

Not wanting to disturb the other residents of Anteiku, Kaneki did his best attempt at stealth...

Only for his heart to nearly jump out from his chest as Touka's door opened as he comes face to face with the scowling purple haired teen in her nightgown.

"You make too much noise." Touka grumbled, rubbing her eyes. "So, what the hell are you doing up this late?" She yawned and grabbed Kaneki by the collar, yanking him into her room, closing the door behind him.

Kaneki could only make a small yelp at Touka's sudden actions, causing him to stumble.

This always happened when Touka wanted to talk with Kaneki privately and get things off her chest.

The two were actually really close friends, despite how abrasive Touka appears around Kaneki. Not to mention that Kaneki was the only one in Anteiku even close to Touka's age.

"I was going to go for a walk. The events today kinda made things hard for me to sleep." Kaneki replied, rubbing his head

"Your "friend" back there gives off a real dangerous vibe. Almost like a real crazy power hungry vibe." Touka glared at the one eyed ghoul, who looked away sheepishly.

"I can guess you heard everything?" Kaneki asked, refusing to meet her eyes.

"Not everything, but I saw enough to know that this Eto chick is bad news, and that she's got her claws deep in you." Touka warned, placing a hand on his shoulder. Even after a first encounter, Touka could tell how emotionally manipulative Kaneki's friend was.

"I refused her offer to join her. I'm not getting wrapped up with her again, and I'm done hurting people." Kaneki replied, still not meeting her eyes.

Touka sighed and flicked the black haired teen's forehead, causing him to yelp in surprise. "Dumbass, we're ghouls. We gotta fight to survive, and I sure as hell ain't going to let you get your ass killed because of some ideal against fighting." She sighed and looked out into the night sky through her window. "Still, if Eto shows her face around here, I'll kick her ass for trying to make you lose your way." Touka chuckled and playfully punched Kaneki's shoulder.

"It's fine, Touka. It really is. Now I'm going to take a walk and get some fresh air. You also should get some sleep, since you got school in the morning." Kaneki waved her off and headed to the door. "Night, Touka."

"Night dumbass." Touka snorted with a hidden smirk as Kaneki left her room.

The purple haired girl tried her damnest to hide her creeping blush after he left before returning to bed.

xxx

 _Aren't you hungry? You really should find something to eat._

Kaneki shoved the small thought deep in the back of his mind as he wandered the 20th Ward.

The sweet iron smell of blood filled Kaneki's nose as he passed an alleyway and to his horror, he found himself salivating. A ghoul has killed in the shadowy alleyway, and he was right there.

 _Would you look at that, fresh meat ripe for the taking._

The thoughts invaded his mind again, persistent and yearning. Like a voice whispering into his ear, tempting him to kill again, to hunt again. Like he did so long ago.

But he wasn't that person anymore. There were rules in the 20th ward to prevent the watchful eye of the CCG to cast it's gaze over the resident ghouls of Anteiku and the others here.

Yet the voice felt familiar, like an old friend.

Shaking his head, Kaneki went down the alleyway to investigate. Someone needed to be aware of the rules here.

The voracious sounds of flesh ripping and eager chewing and swallowing were heard as Kaneki got closer. The scent of blood became more and more intoxicating as he approached.

Whoever was here had did more than just kill, they practically slaughtered.

Kaneki donned his mask, the one he kept after all these years, with the eyepatch restitched on to conceal his normal eye.

"There's a rule against hunting here in the 20th ward." Kaneki spoke into the darkness and the eating noises suddenly stopped.

The one eyed ghoul staggered back in shock at what he saw. Before him, was a pile of human corpses, all young men, in various pieces. Sitting on top of the pile was a familiar face.

Mired in blood and viscera, a slender pale hand rose to her mouth and licked up the blood from her fingers with a hungry grin.

"You smell delicious, my dear." She simply said, crimsion eyes shining in the moonlight.

Sitting on the pile of corpses was the purple haired girl he recently met in the cafe, the one who liked Sen Takatsuki.

Rize Kamishiro...


	5. Chapter 5

"You know it's rude to walk in on a lady while she's eating, dear sir." Rize giggled and stretched, still covered in gore and blood as she leapt off of her pile of corpses and right in front of Kaneki, forcing him to stagger back.

"You do realize, we have a rule here against hunting and killing humans in this ward." Kaneki kept his stance firm, gathering as much strength as he can. The one eyed ghoul wasn't the best fighter, nor did he really like fighting in the first place. Still, defending his ward from threats was a duty he felt the ghouls of Anteiku was given to.

"Is that so? My, how silly of me not to realize it. I just get _so hungry_. I simply can't control myself." Rize cried out in mock despair, hugging her chest with a small frown. Only for her to open her bloody red eyes and two crimson rinkaku snaked out of her kakuhou from behind her back, aimed at Kaneki. "I don't know about you, but I think you smell absolutely divine." She giggled and her two rinkaku lashed out at him, causing him to leap back in surprise and his single sapphire blue renkaku shot out of Kaneki's back as it blocked another swipe from Rize.

"Ara, Ara~. Only one? Someone's been slacking off." Rize laughed as her renkaku slammed Kaneki into the building beside them and flung him out the alleyway.

She was brutal in her assault, unrelenting and cruel. Kaneki barely had time to block her strikes as she spun and kicked the boy across the street. He bounced a few times and Rize was right back on top of him, kicking back down as he bounced up, brutally cracking the pavement with his body.

Kaneki gasped in pain as the wind was beaten out of him. He went into a coughing fit as his lungs gradually regenerated after one of his broken ribs punctured and deflated one of the organs. Spitting out a glob of blood, the black haired boy gradually rose from the crater to face his opponent.

xxx

Up on the rooftops surveying the fight...

Eto Yoshimura was _livid_.

Watching her beloved Kaneki get knocked around like a tennis ball made her seeth in fury.

She was right.

Of course she was right!

Being raised by her father made her Ken-Ken weak. This wouldn't have happened if he joined Aogiri Tree years ago instead of the stupid cafe.

The proof was right in front of her after all.

"Eto, it's unlike you to get this worked up." Her white haired companion beside her commented beneath his half mask.

"Shut up, Tatara. Now's not the time." She growled in irritation behind her wrappings. "Ken-Ken needs to win." She mused as Tatara caught her eye the steel beams besides them.

"He's not going to get any stronger if you hold his hand, you know. Any intervention will hinder his growth." He reprimanded the one eyed ghoul, who didn't seem to be paying attention as she made her way to some construction scaffolding.

There was a resounding clang as fist hit metal. A huge dent in the support beam of the scaffolding caused the entire structure to creak and groan, then the whole thing to come tumbling down the skyscraper.

"Oops, my hand slipped~." Eto replied to Tatara in a sing-song tone, giving him a huge mischevious grin as she watched the scaffolding crash down onto the streets.

The white haired ghoul sighed in annoyance and turned to leave. "Why must you be so difficult?"

"You do some stupid shit when you're in love~" Eto giggled and skipped over to Tatara's side.

xxx

He was hers.

She was too powerful for him to even land a scratch.

She was getting closer, a dark and hungry smile on her lips.

Rize reached out to him...

...only for a steel beam to come down and slice her arm clean in half.

She screamed in pain from the sudden dismemberment,

Another pierced her body, straight through her head and cutting off her screams, another through her back.

Soon, a rain of steel beams came down, stabbing into the female ghoul and then some scaffolding came down, crushing her for one final insult.

Kaneki was stunned for a moment, staring at the wreckage, processing what just happened.

He was about to die...

But now _she's_ the one who's dead.

Tears welled up in Kaneki's eyes as the weight of what just happened came crashing down on him.

 _You almost died!_ The voice in his head screamed at him.

"Kaneki!" The boy heard a voice behind him, and suddenly was envloped in a tight hug.

Tou...ka...

 _Was Eto right? Does Anteiku make you weaker?_

No, of course not.

 _You probably could've stood your ground when you were younger._

No, I couldn't have! Rize was really strong.

That's all.

Isn't it?

Mr. Yoshimura can't possibly have made me weaker...

"You dumbass, you do nothing but make us worry." Touka repremended the boy as she buried herself in his back.

That's right...

His friends.

They didn't make him weak.

They gave him something to fight for.

He had a home to go back to. People who would miss him if he died.

He had to get stronger.

If not for himself, then for his family.

For Anteiku.

Smiling at his new resolve, Kaneki turned towards his friend, giving her a reassuring grin. "It's alright, Touka. I'm alright."

Grumbling with a slight blush, Touka weakly punched his back but remained laying her head on his back. "Next time you decide to take a walk, I'm going with you." The girl mumbled into his back.

"Are you sure you're _just_ worried about me?" Kaneki teased his best friend, causing her to jump up and immediatly remove herself with a flustered stutter.

"N-No! I only want to go with you and make sure you don't get yourself killed." She reasoned, not before smacking him upside the head for some reason.

Grumbling at her blow, Kaneki got up with a sigh. "C'mon, Touka. Let's go home."

For the first time, in what felt like a long time...

Kaneki felt...content.


End file.
